[KatoeyLover69]

............ continued ( Part 2 ) .............

Military rule

Modernisation was also an important theme in Phibun's new Thai nationalism. From 1938 to 1942 he issued a set of 12 Cultural Mandates. In addition to requiring that all Thais salute the flag, know the National Anthem, and speak the national language, the mandates also encouraged Thais to work hard, stay informed on current events, and to dress in a western fashion. At the same time, Phibun worked rigorously to rid society of its royalist influences - traditional royal holidays were replaced with new national events, royal and aristocratic titles were abandoned (ironically, he retained his aristocratic surname). Even the Sangha was affected when the status of the royally sponsored Thammayuth sect was downgraded.

In 1940 France was occupied by Germany, and Phibun immediately set out to avenge Siam's humiliations by France in 1893 and 1904. Luang Wichint wrote a number of popular dramas that glorified the idea of many ethnic groups belonging to one greater "Thai"empire and condemned the evils of European colonial rule. Irredentist and anti-French demonstrations were incessantly held around Bangkok, and in late 1940 border skirmishes erupted along the Mekhong frontier. In 1941, the skirmishes became a small scale war between Vichy France and Thailand. The Thai forces dominated the war on the ground and in the air, but suffered a crushing naval defeat at the battle of Koh Chang. The Japanese then stepped in to mediate the conflict. The final settlement thus gave back to Thailand a number of the disputed areas in Laos and Cambodia.

This caused a rapid deterioration of relations with the United States and Britain. In April 1941 the U.S. cut off oil supplies to Thailand. Thailand's campaign for territorial expansion came to an end on December 8th 1941 when Japan invaded the country along its southern coastline. The Phibun regime allowed for the Japanese to pass through the country in its advance into Burma and Malaya. Convinced by the Allied defeats of early 1942 that Japan was winning the war, Phibun decide to form an actual alliance with the Japanese.

As a reward, Japan allowed Thailand to invade and annex the Shan States in northern Burma, and to resume sovereignty over the sultanates of northern Malaya. In January 1942 Thailand actually declared war on Britain and the U.S., but the Thai Ambassador in Washington, Seni Pramoj refused to deliver it to the State Department. Instead, Seni denounced the regime as illegal and formed a Seri Thai Movement in Washington. Pridi, by now serving in the role of an apparently powerless regent, led the resistance movement inside Thailand, while Queen Ramphaiphannee was the nominal head of the movement in Great Britain.

Secret training camps were set up, the majority of set up by the populist politician Tiang Sirikhanth in the northeast of the country. (there were a dozen camps alone in Sakhon Nakhon Province). Secret airfields also appeared in the northeast, where RAF and USAAF planes brought in supplies, as well as SOE, OSS, and Seri Thai agents; while at the same time evacuating out POWs. By early 1945, Thai air force officers were performing liaision duties with South East Asia Command in Kandy and Calcutta.

By 1944 it was evident that the Japanese were going to lose the war, and their behaviour in Thailand had become increasingly arrogant. Bangkok also suffered heavily from the Allied bombing raids. This, plus the economic hardship caused by the loss of Thailand's rice export markets, made both the war and Phibun's regime very unpopular, and in July Phibun was ousted by the Seri Thai-infiltrated government. The National Assembly reconvened and appointed the liberal lawyer Khuang Aphaiwong as Prime Minister. The new government hastily evacuated the British territories that Phibun had occupied and aided the Seri Thai movement while at the same time maintained friendly relations with the Japanese.

The British (the officials in Whitehall and not the officers at SEAC)were in favour of treating Thailand as a defeated enemy, but the Americans had no great sympathy for British and French colonialism and decided to support the new government. Thailand thus received little punishment for its wartime role.

to be continued ( Part 3 ) .............